Water safety and quality
Water safety and quality are fundamental to human development and well-being. Providing access to safe water is one of the most effective instruments in promoting health and reducing poverty.
As the international authority on public health and water quality, WHO leads global efforts to prevent transmission of waterborne disease. This is achieved by promoting health-based regulations to governments and working with partners to promote effective risk management practices to water suppliers, communities and households.
Highlights
Safe and reliable drinking-water supply depends on effective risk management, appropriate regulation and support, and well-informed technology selection....
Guidelines for drinking-water quality: small water supplies
Small drinking-water supplies commonly experience operational, managerial, technical and resourcing challenges that impact their ability to deliver safe...
Guidelines for drinking-water quality: fourth edition incorporating the first and second addenda
The fourth edition incorporating the first and second addenda, of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Guidelines for drinking-water quality (GDWQ)...
Documents
Water safety plan: step-by-step risk management for drinking-water suppliers: training...
Other relevant publications
All →Monitoring air quality (for example collecting continuous and quality data) is integral and critical to detecting air pollutants and to ensuring information...
WHO water, sanitation, hygiene and waste strategy 2026-2035
Unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) still drive at least 1.4 million preventable deaths each year, while climate shocks, outbreaks, migration...
This brief aligns the latest maternal mortality estimates with whether a country is conflict-affected or considered institutionally fragile. Nearly...
Mainstreaming antimicrobial resistance into primary health care: international workshop report
The Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) organized an international workshop from 18 to 20 March 2025 in Bangkok, Thailand,...
WHO malaria terminology 2025, Third edition
In recent years, there has been a proliferation of new terms in relation to malaria in scientific literature, technical reports and the media. Concurrently,...
Report of the 18th FAO/WHO Joint Meeting on Pesticide Management, Geneva, Switzerland and online, 7-10...
The 18th Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)/World Health Organization (WHO) Joint Meeting on Pesticide Management (JMPM) was...
Consolidated guidance on hepatitis B and C prevention, testing, treatment, service delivery and monitoring:...
This document consolidates, for the first time, WHO recommendations on the prevention, testing, treatment and monitoring of hepatitis B and C, and...
Summary of the Fortieth Meeting of the International Task Force for Disease Eradication (ITFDE) October...
The 40th meeting of the International Task Force for Disease Eradication (ITFDE) was convened in a hybrid (in-person and virtual) format at The Carter...
Nurturing care and men’s engagement : thematic brief
This brief, aimed at policymakers and programme designers, explores what to consider when designing or adapting services to engage men in providing...